


Barry: Wish 1-3

by litra



Series: If wishes were races we would all run [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Djinni & Genies, Gen, Wishes, pre episode 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 21:52:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16072064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra
Summary: The night of the particle accelerator explosion Barry is going through Evidence and finds a ring. Next thing he knows a Genie is offering him wishes.





	Barry: Wish 1-3

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the start of a collection that I'm working on off and on.Each story is part of a larger narrative and may not make sense without the other parts.

 

Barry tossed his jacket over the back of his chair. The lab was dark. Most of the station was dark come to that. The station was never truly silent, but none of the regular comforting sounds drifted through his door at the moment. There was a pile of new cases waiting for him now that he was back. 

He didn't regret going to Starling. Meeting the Green Arrow was as cool as he could have imagined, but now he had to put that behind him. This was the real world, boring and normal. He spent a moment to look out the window. Barry could just see the towers of Star Labs. They'd be turning on the particle accelerator in an hour or two.

Slumping into his chair, Barry flipped through the top case on his pile. It looked like a home invasion at a glance. A few things had been knocked over but there were no signs of robbery. According to the coroner the woman's heard had given out. It was possible she'd died of natural causes, but the signs of a struggle had bumped it up to him since the detectives didn't have any strong suspects. Barry had seen this kind of thing before, random violence was always the hardest to solve. The officers had done a decent job bagging up evidence in his absence. He fell into the familiar pattern of checking for prints and toxicology.

The ring was a simple band of steel, polished to a shine. Barry guessed it was a man's wedding ring. He'd have to check the files but Barry was fairly sure it was too big to be the victims. He put on a new set of gloves and pulled the ring out of it's bag. There was some kind of inscription on the inside, worn down until it was barely readable. Barry reached out to flip on his magnifying lamp. The plug sparked making Barry jerk back, clutching at the ring. The last thing he needed was to lose it under his desk. 

Shaking his head, Barry turned his attention back to the ring. it had slipped onto his gloved finger. The movement had probably smudged any prints but it didn't have any surfaces big enough for more than a partial in any case.

"Hmmm, I love nights like this."

Barry glanced up, wondering when one of the officers had slipped into his lab. Except it wasn't an officer. There was a woman standing at his window. She had long dark hair that was tied back in a loose braid. She was wearing a sleeveless dress that faded through several shades of green. The thing that really struck him though, was that she was barefoot. 

"Ummm, I'm sorry but you're not allowed in here, and you really should wear shoes in any kind of lab."

She turned from the window to look at him over her shoulder. "Right okay, straight to business than. What's your name?"

"Barry Allen, this is my lab."

"Allen, I think I like that." She hummed as she turned fully, and Barry realized that not only was she barefoot she wasn't touching the ground. Her skirt was billowing around her legs despite the fact that all the windows, including the skylight were closed. The air conditioning wasn't even on. She crossed her legs, sitting primly in the air with her hands folded on her knees as if there was a stool under her.

"You--" Barry stopped, his mind racing with all the possibilities. He'd looked into plenty of things that could float and looked like women for his blog. Ghosts came in all shapes and sizes, but if she was a ghost she was an amazingly solid one. The fact that she was wearing green might mean fairy or... Now that he was looking closer her skin was the middle brown of the Mediterranean, that could mean nymph. Or maybe the floating was the key to it. there were plenty of air spirit myths that looked like women. Or it could be some kind of trick. He'd been gone for a few weeks, plenty of time for someone to set up some ropes. Why they would bother when he might have stumbled into the set up at any time, and what they would get out of pranking him he had no idea. 

"You're staring," The woman said.

"Oh ah, sorry." Barry blinked pulling his focus back to the moment.

"I don't mind, It's kind of cute, I could practically see the wheels turning. What are you thinking about anyway?"

"I... was trying to figure out how you're doing that," Barry admitted.

"You could ask."

Barry glanced at the space between her and the ground. There were a few constants that transcended cultural boundaries. "I didn't want to be rude," he said slowly.

"Oh you are going to be a fun one," She clapped her hands together, "Right okay here's another hint. You've probably already guessed but I'm not human."

Barry licked his lips and slowly nodded. Then he stood and went to lock the door. "I'm not trying to trap you, I'd just rather not have someone walking in," He explained with his back to it.

She nodded serenely, "That's fine master Allen, whatever you wish."

Barry's jaw fell open, "No way."

She laughed, leaning back in the air, "And a light dawns."

"You're seriously a genie?"

"Seriously," she agreed.

He fumbled for his chair falling into it and running a hand through his hair. "That is... I mean totally out of the blue but, that is really cool." He looked up at her again, his mind racing. "like I Dream Of Genie or like the Disney version or Arabian knights...? Wait, was it the ring?" He scowled down at his hand.

"You're quick. Yeah, it's the ring." She considered his other question, "Disney got it mostly right. It kind of covered the bases." 

Barry scrambled for the notebook he usually used to make notes on cases. He found a pen that worked and held it ready. "So there are rules, what are they exactly?"

The genie-- Barry realized he still didn't know her name, if she even had one -- jumped up from her non-existent stool. "Right, okay listen closely Barry Allen because this is important. Rule one: no bringing anyone back from the dead. You can try it but the cost is more than you could imagine. You'll lose your heart, your soul and your life and it still wouldn't bring them back as they should be. Rule two: No changing anyone's heart or mind. They will know, and it will break them mentally or physically or both. You might as well wish for someone to die, which is not actually against the rules, no matter how many protests I would like to make. Rule three: No wishing for more wishes. That one is just impossible. This includes passing the ring back and forth between people. You lose the ring you can not make any of your remaining wishes. if you get the ring back you can only make the wishes you would have had if you hadn't lost it. Of coarse you could just pass the ring on to a family member or something. That's happened to me before. That whole thing where genies spend hundreds of years trapped in their lamps, totally a myth. I almost never get more then a few months. Not that I would want to be stuck outside of time for that long. Now you ready for the tricky bit? The wishes are powered by your soul so the stronger your will the more you can do. Being precise helps take some of the weight off you, but for the big stuff... Well think of it like this. A person can wish to be an amazing piano player. If they don't have the strength of will to do it the slow way. If they aren't willing -- not unable, but unwilling -- to put in the work, the wish will fail. Moreover it will fail in a very painful fashion. That's how my last master died. So be careful what you wish for."

Barry carefully noted down the rules, using as much exact language as he could. That last bit was a bit worrying. How could you measure will?

Then he realized something, "Your last master?"

She nodded, "Ms. June Blackman. She wanted to get the big promotion, the corner office, regional manager all that, but a lifetime of zero effort meant no dice. She should have wished to win the lottery. That's much safer. All that takes is the effort to go by a ticket."

Barry checked the name on his file, sure enough Ms. June Blackman was the victim.  He settled back in his chair. He'd still do what he could on the case, but knowing there wasn't any foul play changed the priority level.

Except looking back at the case made him realize something else. Technically the ring was still evidence. Unless he wanted to steel it, he'd have to make his wishes fast.

The first wish was a no brainer. He knew his dad was innocent, he just needed the proof. He'd been trying to prove it for years so the will certainly wouldn't be a problem. 

What else...?

There were things he'd wished for as a kid; A dog, a chemistry set, for Tony Woodword to get hit by a car. None of it appealed to him anymore. There was Iris, but he loved her. He wanted her to love him but he wouldn't ever try to force that on her even if there wasn't the chance of breaking her. But if he had a chance to meet someone? Someone who would challenge him and see who he really was beyond the blog and the geekery... Yeah that was something he wanted. 

Which left one wish left. He turned and looked at the genie. She was back to looking out the window. It had started to rain and she was tracing water droplets as they made their way down the glass. He cleared his throat.

"Umm, in the movie they set the genie free in the end."

She glanced back at him, "And be human? No thanks. I rather like creating miracles, even selfish ones."

Barry slowly nodded, "What do I call you?" he asked for lack of anything better to say.

She considered, "Allie? It'll do for now." She turned to face him fully, "Are you ready to make a wish? You seem like the type to jump right in."

"I'm going to make all three." Barry admitted with a shrug. "The ring is evidence. After tonight I wont have access to it."

She nodded, "Right, okay I see your problem. Care for some advice?"

Barry shrugged, "Sure, you're the expert in wishes."

"Choose something small that will help you day to day. Never loosing your keys. Never getting a cold. Always having perfect hair. No one bothers to wish for things like that but they actually mean a lot in the long run."

Barry considered his life up to that point. With her advice his third wish was painfully obvious. He looked down at the list of rules he'd written down. Even with his wishes chosen, there was still that temptation to keep the ring. maybe get Joe up here before he had to send it back to processing. God, he was really about to do this. He'd found a genie and was going to make his wishes. He had already believed in crazy otherworldly things like that and he could still barely believe what was happening.

"Okay, I'm ready." He stood up and stepped around the desk to face her. She mirrored him, coming to stand a few feet away, her dress still billowing around her legs.

He took a deep breath. "For my first wish I want proof my dad is innocent. Enough to get him out of jail and completely clear his name." The words came easily, he'd wanted it for so long. "For my second wish--" he hesitated for a moment then barreled forward. "I want to find love. I want to meet someone who will see me for who I am. Who will push me to be my best and stand with me when I need support. Someone who will let me do the same for them. Someone who actually wants to be with me physically and romantically." The words tumbled out of him. She had said to be precise. He hoped it sounded like he was being precise and not just babbling.

Allie was hovering in the air again, her braid getting tossed around behind her by a wind that didn't touch the rest of the room. Her eyes were glowing, sparking like the lightning that flickered outside the window behind her.

"And your third wish Barry Allen?"

"I want to be able to get to things on time."

She lifted her hands, embracing the sky as she laughed. "Wish granted." She said, and her words echoed with thunder. 

Barry felt a tug just behind his heart, and a rush like he'd just run a mile and flopped down on the grass panting. There was a phantom touch, like arms wrapped around him, a hand clutching his. Barry's breath caught, head falling back. The skylight hadn't been open before, but it was now. There was a bare instant that lasted a millennia where he saw the lightning form and dance it's way down towards him. 

Barry wondered briefly if he'd asked for too much. Then the lightning struck and everything went dark.

 

 

 

The genie looked down at her former master. "You really are something Mr. Allen. I think... Yes, I think I'm going to enjoy this." The ring, still on his finger, glinted as she vanished.

 

 


End file.
